


Wuji Boundary

by spicedGumdrops



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: FerrisWheelShipping, Gen, Legendary Pokemon, Original Character(s), Pokemon, Pokemon Battles, Post-Canon, fanchild, future chapters will be tagged accordingly to avoid spoilers, it's however many years later and these two have a daughter!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27880270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicedGumdrops/pseuds/spicedGumdrops
Summary: N and Touko, the heroes of Truth and Ideals, have long since retired from their active roles as Unova’s protectors as the region entered its well-known typicality of peace. Together they’ve raised a daughter, Nemises, and have been living their lives quietly and happily.But the past casts long shadows, and their daughter soon discovers she walks the boundary between her parents.And the dragon lays in wait...
Relationships: N | Natural Harmonia Gropius/Touko | Hilda
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	1. Morning Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nemises loves going for early morning rides atop her parent’s dragons. There’s so much to see up in the air!

Yin and Yang. Darkness and light. Opposites that cannot exist without the other, together they bring balance. Wuji. The absence of yin and yang. Limitless and infinite.

Taiji. The Supreme Ultimate, Yin, Yang, and Wuji united together to represent absolute unbridled potential.

Zekrom and Reshiram, two halves of a whole, yin and yang, each one balancing out the flaws of the other and bringing harmony when in perfect sync. Zekrom with its shining ideals and Reshiram, with its unwavering truth. Everyone knows about the legend, now well known to be reality. But most people do not know of the third dragon. If they do, only myths and legends that have twisted the truth with time. Long ago, the two dragons were one. Torn between truths and ideals, they split to take their sides. 

They left behind a frozen husk of a dragon, holding neither truth nor ideals, dooming it to wait forevermore for a hero to come along and fill in the missing parts. It lashed out at anyone unworthy, cocooning itself in rumors and hiding away, waiting for a hero to fill in the missing parts with the truths and ideals that left it behind.

Its longing will never leave it so long as it remains without a hero. It waits patiently still, waiting for someone who experiences similar longing.

\---

It was perfectly quiet. The room was dark with the shades drawn, but the faintest glow promised a glorious sunrise. In the dim room, childhood pictures and drawings hung on the walls and shadows snuggled into the fur of stuffed animals sitting in a pile on the floor. A silence hung in the air, enveloping the young occupant of the bed. For now. **  
**

Nemises rolled over and slapped her alarm button with practiced ease just as it started to beep. It was a bit early for anyone, let alone a 12 year-old. But Nemises was an early-bird, and today she had a particularly good reason to be up before even her punctual father. She hopped out of bed and pulled on the outfit she had laid out the day before. The weather was going to be clear, but where she was going, it would definitely be a little nippy. The jacket was necessary. She heard a soft tapping at her window as she was bunching her hair into two low pigtails.

“I’m coming!” she hissed with a grin, and hopped over to the window, pausing only to drop a kiss on a Banette curled up asleep in the plushie pile. She undid the latch and heaved the window open.   
A large white snout poked inside, filling up the whole window frame. Nemises giggled and stroked the soft fur, following the snout out the window. Reshiram was waiting for her as she wriggled her way out.

 _Good morning, Nemises_. Its voice sounded in her head.

“Good morning, Reshiram!” she said, clambering onto its back.

_Is there anywhere you had in mind today?_

“Can we fly around near Lacunosa Town? I want to watch the town wake up!”

Lacunosa’s high walls were built to keep out the monster of the nearby chasm, but the sun peeked over the tip of the lattice and stone as it did every morning. Nemises lounged on Reshiram’s back, kicking her legs idly and watching as the tiny lights within the houses slowly turned on one by one. A couple people wandered out from their homes as the sun’s glow began to warm up the town. Someone looked up into the sky, spotted Reshiram, and waved. Nemises waved back and shouted a good morning, though she was unsure if they could hear her.  
 _  
Would you like to go closer, Nemises?_ Reshiram asked.  
  
“Nah, I’m fine up here! It’s so quiet.”

_Haha, very well._

Nemises sat back to take a break from watching people walk around the streets, looking up at the clouds pensively. 

“Isn’t it kinda weird that people in Lacunosa still don’t go out at night? Like, that old superstition was proven to be wrong, so why keep doing it?”

 _...Hm, well, the wall was built to keep Kyurem out, and it can sometimes be unpredictable. Maybe there is a sliver of truth to it_. Reshiram replied. 

“Yeah, but Kyurem hasn’t left Giant Chasm in centuries! I bet it didn’t even eat Pokemon and people like the legend says. It can’t really be that scary...can it?”

 _It can be._ Reshiram replied. _While it did not come from space, as the myth says, it **can** be very protective of its territory. I am sure your parents have told you that Kyurem used to be part of Zekrom and I. But when Zekrom and I split, Kyurem was left behind, an empty husk. To that end, it’s not entirely true to say Zekrom and I are two halves of a whole. When Kyurem fuses with one of us, it calms it down somewhat, as its missing pieces are filled in._

“But Mom and Dad don’t really do that, right?”

_They do not. It is probably for the best. Besides, Kyurem itself said it would prefer to stay in the Giant Chasm and wait for its own hero. However, I don’t think anyone has come by yet. That place it resides in is surrounded by myths and superstition, not even the most skilled Trainers venture near its center._

Nemises considered this and frowned sadly. “But doesn’t it get lonely?”

_I...do not know. Kyurem never seemed like a Pokemon that could get lonely._

Nemises opened her mouth to speak.

_No, we are not going to go to the Giant Chasm to say hi to it. It’s too dangerous, especially for you. You are not even a Trainer yet, Nemises!_

“... … …”

_No sulking._

“Fiiiiiiiiiiine. Can we at least fly over the chasm to see how the forest is growing?”

_...I don’t see why not. Your parents should be awake soon, so we can all have some breakfast._

The wind slid through Nemises’ green hair as Reshiram descended lower, gliding on wide, white wings. 

The forest was growing back beautifully in the years following the damage it had sustained from Team Plasma’s Frigate, but the trees were unusually bare of Pokemon. As the great dragon flew overhead, Nemises couldn’t even hear the cries and idle chatter of the native Pokemon that lived there; it was just...silent.

The girl looked around, that was definitely strange. There had to be _some_ Pokemon awake at this hour, it wasn’t _that_ early.

“It’s a bit too quiet, don’t you think…?” she asked Reshiram.

It stopped and hovered in the air, turning its head about. _I agree...that is unusual, even for here._

Nemises shivered and rubbed her hands together vigorously. When had it gotten so cold? The air began to glitter with diamond dust. Her breath billowed past her lips in clouds.

Reshiram let out a rumble, a low, wary sound as it started to back away from the center of the regrowing forest. It bristled against a sudden feeling of dread that seized the air, its feathers spiking up along its spine.

_...Nemises, I think we should go. Something is-_

A translucent arrow shot through the air, nearly catching the dragon on its neck. Both human and dragon barely had time to register what just happened as a flurry of them shot out of nowhere at the pair, frigid and deadly. 

Nemises lurched backwards and slipped as Reshiram roared, dodging the barrage of iced bolts that hurtled towards them. She grabbed fistfuls of feathers as her body swung precariously off the dragon’s side. 

_Don’t look down don’t look down don’t look down don’t look down--_

With a grunt of exertion, Nemises hauled herself back up onto Reshiram’s back and clung to its neck as it reared up, opening its mouth wide. The air sizzled and grew unbearably hot; an enormous, swirling ball of fire was forming within the white dragon’s gaping maw.   
  
A Fusion Flare! 

With a deafening shriek, the sphere of flame shot towards the icicles, vaporizing them with nary a hiss and exploding in a fantastic show of pyrotechnics. Nemises pressed her face into Reshiram’s feathers, wincing inwardly from the heat. After a prolonged silence, she finally raised her head to look around. It was quiet, they weren’t being attacked anymore.

 _Nemises, are you alright?_ Reshiram craned its neck back to make sure the girl was still in one piece. 

“Y-Yeah. I’m okay. What _was_ that?” she asked, standing up on the dragon’s back. She shielded her eyes against the sun, trying to get a better look at where the icicles could have come from.

_I’m...not sure. I have a terrible feeling. We should go notify your--_

A lone icicle streaked through the air like an arrow and slammed into Nemises’ shoulder. The dull pain that reverberated out from the impact caught her breath in her throat, all that came out was a choked noise. The force of it caused her to tip back, her feet sliding on Reshiram’s sleek feathers. 

Gravity caught hold, and Nemises dropped. 

Reshiram howled in a panic, but still more frozen projectiles came, and it couldn’t rush after her.

The wind roared in Nemises’ ears as she plummeted towards the ground, but it was barely registered through the static scream in her head. She was so cold, she couldn’t breathe or think or see--

Her back hit something hard, knocking some breath out of her lungs. She looked up, blinking through foggy vision.

“Z...Zekrom…”

The fearsome black dragon had managed to catch her in its arms. It opened its mouth wide, a blue ball of crackling electricity was hurled at the icicles, shattering them. Reshiram, its mouth hissing with flames, took that brief moment to fly to Zekrom.

_Why are you here?_

Zekrom growled softly. _I wanted to make sure you two did not get into trouble. It’s a good thing I tailed you. What is happening?_

_That has to be Kyurem. It can sense us._

Zekrom growled again, deeper this time. _As much as I’d love a fight right now, we need to get Nemises home. Something is wrong._

The dragon was right. Nemises was jerking about in Zekrom’s grip, twitching and mumbling in pain as pale ice formed in patches across her body. Even as Reshiram brought its warm muzzle to her cheek, the ice didn’t melt.   
  
It crooned in worry. _Touko and N will know what to do_.

Their tails glowed brightly with energy, and then, with a high whine, the two dragons sped off for home.

\---

Chaos was what met the Harmonia-White home as the two dragons landed in the front yard, making such a ruckus that Touko and N were outside in seconds. The kitchen table was swept clear and Nemises laid atop it so that her parents could see what exactly they were dealing with. What they were dealing with was what looked like rounded chunks of ice spreading across Nemises’ body, almost like it was alive.

Touko stroked her daughter’s face, gently murmuring reassurances as the teen shivered on the table, her limbs jerking about in obvious discomfort. Her eyes were squeezed shut as her breath rattled in her lungs, quivering as she trembled. Touko looked at her husband, who had the same unnerved look in his eyes.

 _Kyurem._

“N, try to thaw the ice with your flames. Even if it’s Kyurem’s ice, it should melt,” Touko said, trying to hide the note of uncertainty in her voice. 

N rested a hand on his daughter’s shoulder while the other became cloaked in a warm, orange flame that wreathed and danced around his fingers.

“It’s alright sweetheart, it’s okay,” N murmured. “Just relax, this may hurt a little…”

He moved his hand towards her cheek, the flame brushing against the ice. Nemises flinched away and shrieked, nearly rolling off the table. 

“Don’t burn her!” Touko yelped.  
  
“I didn’t! Nemy, stay still--”  
  
The girl’s eyelids scrunched tightly and she shrieked again, her entire body seizing up. With a series of creaks and cracks, the ice seemed to melt, though it left nothing behind, not a puddle, not a drop of water. Touko looked up at N in amazement. 

“Was your fire really that effective…?”  
  
“I’m...I’m not sure. I barely even touched her…”

Nemises had gone limp on the table, her breaths becoming even as she opened her eyes blearily. She looked like she had simply woken up from a nap.

“Mom…? Dad? Wha’ ‘appened…?”

“Nemy! Honey, thank God...how are you feeling? Do you know where you are?” 

“I’m...at home? But, I was on Reshiram a moment ago…”

N’s jaw set in that stern way it did when he was about to give a scolding. “Yes, you were. And why were you on Reshiram so early in the morning, and so close to the Giant Chasm, young lady?” 

Nemises’ forehead creased like she was thinking hard. “I… ...I. I was...riding Reshiram...then there were icicles...flying at us. But we were so far away...couldn’t see what it was. One hit me and...I fell asleep...I think…? No I...I fell or...some...thing.”

Touko felt her forehead. “She’s burning up. What the hell did Kyurem do to her…?”

“Kyurem…” Nemises echoed quietly. She sounded like she was musing to herself.

A low rumble outside directed Touko’s attention to the door.

“N, take Nemy to bed. Then we should talk with our dragons, get their side of the story.”

“C’mon sweetheart- hyup.” N hoisted his daughter into his arms. She automatically nuzzled her head against her father. The girl was a far cry from the small child she used to be, and much heavier, but N managed to get her upstairs and tucked into bed without much difficulty. The Banette was now awake and floating restlessly around the room. Upon spotting N walking in with Nemises, she immediately swooped down to investigate her friend, murmuring with worry.

“Don’t worry, Mari,” N stroked the Pokemon’s head. “Nemy just had a little accident, she’ll be fine after some rest. Could you keep an eye on her, please?”

Mari tapped her chest with her hand before settling down against Nemises’ torso. She hugged her Pokemon close with a small sigh.

Outside, Touko was joined by her husband. Their dragons told them everything Nemises did, only in more detail. Vivid detail. Their tale made N and Touko’s stomachs clench.

“Why would Kyurem suddenly attack like that…?” N muttered to himself. 

“It was Reshiram, maybe it felt threatened. Kyurem can be territorial, seeing one of the dragons nearby must have startled it,” Touko ventured. 

N chewed on his thumbnail, visibly agitated. His eyes widened as he turned to his wife. “Y--You don’t think- he could’ve-” 

“No.” Touko took his hand and squeezed it. “He’s been frozen. There’s no way anyone can survive that long in ice. I’d be surprised if Kyurem hasn’t eaten him yet.” She scoffed. “It probably made itself sick when it did. Still… should we go check it out?”

N shook his head. “If Kyurem stopped attacking after Reshiram and Zekrom backed off, then it likely was just spooked, as you said. It’d probably be wise to leave it alone for now. Besides…” He turned back to the house. 

“Yeah, we probably should stay and keep an eye on Nemy,” Touko finished his thought.

Reshiram let out a low rumble and brought its head down for N to pat.  
 _  
I am so sorry N, Touko. I should have sensed something was amiss sooner. It is my fault she got hurt._

 _Nonsense._ Zekrom replied, nuzzling its counterpart's neck. _You did the best you could, it is not your fault._

“Zekrom’s right,” Touko said, giving Reshiram a pat of her own. “I can’t blame you if you thought it was safe, especially since it has been in the past. It’s not your fault.” 

_Thank you, Touko…_

“In the meantime, I think Nemy will have to take a break from rides for a while. And I don’t want either of you going near Giant Chasm until we can reassure Kyurem its territory won’t be threatened,” N said.

Touko swung her arms up in a stretch. “Hnn...Lord, what a mornin’!”

“I’ll say. I’m just relieved everything turned out okay. Though I’ll feel a lot better once Nemy’s fever goes down.”

Inside, Nemises snuggled further into her blankets, as though trying to escape a chill only she could feel.


	2. Someone's Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nemises is having strange dreams.

Nemises’ fever broke overnight. She awoke the next day feeling woozy, but no worse for wear even as her parents checked her for frostbite. She barely even remembered the ice they talked about, the whole thing feeling like a very strange dream. She was only allowed out of bed after a temperature check and her own insistence that she was feeling better. 

Now she sat outside, Mari drifting in circles around her head. 

_ “Nemy, wanna go for a walk? Nemmmyyyyy!” _

She swooped down in front of her friend’s face.   
  
“ _ Hey!!” _

“--Hm, wha?” Nemises blinked in surprise. Mari sighed loudly.

_ “Geez, you’re a total space cadet today Nemy! Are you sure you’re feeling up to snuff? Should I go get your mom n’ dad?” _

“I’m fine Mari, really! I was just--hey! Don’t-!” 

The Banette had pulled Nemises’ hairbow free and was swooping through the air with it, snickering. Zekrom and Reshiram both cracked one eye open lazily from their napping spot in the sun as the much smaller Pokemon flew in circles around their heads like a fly. 

“Mariiiii c’mon! Give it back!” Nemises protested, though it had become difficult for her to hide the giggle in her voice. She finally managed to catch up to her friend and give a mighty leap, snatching her hair bow back. Mari snickered again and happily floated down to rest over her friend’s shoulder. 

_ Hello Nemises _ . Reshiram said.  _ How are you feeling today? _

“I’m doing okay,” she said, giving her head a quick shake as a wave of dizziness started to creep up. “Maybe still a little tired though.”

_ Why not lay down and take a short rest? Even if you feel fine now, you still shouldn’t push it, especially after what happened yesterday. _ Zekrom added, stretching its neck out to offer its snout for Nemises to lean on, which she did. 

“I guess I could. I don’t feel like going back to bed though.”   
  
_ “Rest here then! It’s sunny out, the weather’s great and the dragons are very soft!” _ Mari chirped.

_ Heh, I wouldn’t consider myself  _ soft, _ Mari. _ Zekrom chuckled.

The Banette flopped down on top of its snout.  _ “YOU’RE like a big smooth rock! When it’s sunny out, your armor heats up and it’s very nice to just lay on your back.” _

The two dragons shifted so Nemises could settle into a crook between their heads. She lay against Reshiram with her feet pressed up against Zekrom. It was cozy.

Very soon, she felt her eyes droop shut as she slid into sleep.

\-----

\----

\---

\--

-

_ Her skin was tingling. She could feel the cold as it prickled sharply at her fingers; it almost hurt right now.  _

_ The air had a bitter, metallic taste, and each breath was an assault on her throat as the frigid thin air burned her lungs. She coughed against the dryness of it. Her hands, her feet too, were beginning to sting...why wasn’t she wearing shoes…? Foolish…  _ _   
_ _ The stinging burrowed deeper, past her skin into her veins, like ice crystals were forming in her blood.  _

_ Nemises unclenched her jaw; she hadn’t even realized how tight it was set. It was sore, her face was sore, her arms were sore. Sore and stiff from shuddering against this chill.  _

_ She coughed and sucked in another breath of winter, it offered no relief.  _

_ Edging along the side of the massive glacier, she was close enough to peer over the edge; it plunged straight down into a place beyond seeing. It was dizzying to look at and she could hear the wind howling below her. She shuffled backwards just in time as another freezing gale whipped against her back, seeming to urge her onwards. _

**_Chi… … …_ **

**_Ne… mi…_ **

_ Someone’s calling. _

_ The cold bit. Her fingers and toes grew numb. _

_ Like needles. _

**_Mi… ses… …_ **

_ Someone’s calling. _

She blinked awake. She still felt sluggish with warmth and sleepiness; Mari was curled up in her lap, but her eyes blinked open to look at Nemises. They then narrowed as she reached a hand out to prod her friend’s face.

_ “Yo Nemy, you’re kinda cold! Are you okay?” _

“Cold?” Nemises squished her cheeks; she felt… “I feel fine.”

_ What’s this about Nemises being cold? _ Zekrom lifted its head, parting its massive jaws in an equally massive yawn. Reshiram brushed its muzzle against the girl, sniffing. 

_ Hmm… she is a little chilly. Odd, you just had a fever last night, but now you’re cold… _

“I’m feeling fine guys, really. I don’t feel cold…” she felt her cheeks again. “...Do I really feel cold?”

_ “...Well, you  _ did. _ You’re warming up now. That’s super weird!” _

Zekrom bumped its nose against Nemises and she draped herself over its snout, enjoying the warmth of its armor, heated in the sun. 

_ Maybe you were just in my shadow _ , it suggested.

“Mmm...maybe…”

_ Is something bothering you, Nemises? _ Reshiram asked.

“No, I’m fine. I just,” she slid back down onto the grass. “I had a really weird dream is all.” She was silent a moment longer before turning to Reshiram. “Reshiram...what exactly happened yesterday?”

_ Do you really not remember…? _

“Bits and pieces.” Nemises gestured to her head. “It’s all kinda fuzzy after we were above the chasm. Weren’t we...attacked or something?”

Reshiram dipped its head in affirmation.  _ A barrage of icicles assaulted us, originating from the center of the chasm, where the entrance to Kyurem's lair is located. I managed to dodge them but...one of them hit you. You were starting to freeze as a result. Zekrom caught you as you fell and...well, we brought you home.  _

_ “Don’t forget what Touko and N said!” _ Mari chirped in.  _ “I dunno if they told you, but apparently the ice just disappeared! Like it melted or was absorbed into your body. I didn’t see it, but they said there weren’t even any puddles left.” _

Nemises was silent, leaning back into Reshiram’s soft warm feathers. This was all really... _ really _ strange. 

Really strange.

\--- ---

Dinner that night was stir fry, one of Nemises’ favorites, courtesy of her parents who seemed very intent on spoiling her. And she wasn’t about to complain as she inhaled what was on her plate before going to get seconds.

“Can I go into town tomorrow?” she asked her parents. “I’m feeling a lot better now, and I don’t have a fever anymore!”   
  
“If your temperature stays down, then of course you can,” her father replied. 

“Do you intend to go get some candy?” her mother asked, a wry grin on her face. 

Nemises blushed. “...That’s not the  _ only _ thing I want to do,” she mumbled.    
  
Touko snickered. “I’ll give you some spending money tomorrow, ‘kay?”

The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

\---

\---

_ The frigid air was already burning her lungs when she became aware of where she was.  _

_ Here again...She looked behind her.  _

_ Soft footprints stretched out behind her, far beyond the swirling snow. How long has she been walking…? Where was she going…? _

**_Mi...ses…_ **

_ A faint voice cut through the wind, as though carried on it. It sounded closer this time. _

_ She had to get there. She had to find it… She had to… She needed… _

**_Ne… ...ses…_ **

_ The wind sliced through her clothes, penetrating through even the deepest layers of her flesh. Her hands stung worse than anything she’d ever experienced, her throat burned.  _

_ Still, she kept walking. Something kept urging her onwards, even as frost bit at her fingers and toes. Even as her lips turned blue and her movements sluggish. _

_ She could almost see it now, a looming shadow in the blizzard. She was...so close...so… _

_ She reached out a hand… _

**_Nemises._ **

Her crimson eyes opened as she stared up at her bedroom ceiling, the remnants of a chill still huddled in her cheeks. Nemises blinked again, slowly, before rolling over onto her side. What had been that...what…

The threads of her dream dissolved like cotton candy in water, leaving her with only that lingering cold, and a feeling of...a feeling of…

It was no use; her mind was still too foggy and muddled with sleep. It wasn’t even light out yet. 

She rolled to her other side, snuggling deeper into her covers as sleep began to creep back in. As she sank down into the dark, her mind was flooded with a single thought.

_ Kyurem. Kyurem. Kyurem. _

\---

“Hey kiddo, you feelin’ okay?” 

Nemises looked up as her mother sat down next to her on the back deck. Dirt was smudged on her face, no doubt she was done with another training session with her team.

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“You sure?” Touko tucked some of her daughter’s hair behind her ear. “You’ve been acting a little off ever since the attack. Is something bothering you?” 

Perceptive as ever. Nemises couldn’t hide anything from her mom.

“I’ve just been wondering about Kyurem a lot. I know there’s a lot of Pokemon out there that are wary of humans and like to keep to themselves, but I’ve never met a Pokemon who just...attacked like that. It was scary.”

“I’m sure it was.” Touko wrapped an arm around Nemises and gave her a squeeze, rubbing her shoulder affectionately. “Kyurem can be kind of scary, trust me I know. But it’s not a bad Pokemon. There are no bad Pokemon, just Pokemon that are misunderstood. It’s our job as humans and Trainers to understand them and their behavior, and their needs and wants.”

“I think that’s why I’m thinking of Kyurem so much,” Nemises said, leaning into the hug. “It makes me feel sad, thinking about it in that cave all alone. Just...it seems like such a lonely existence.” 

“Well, it’s there because it’s waiting,” Touko said. She smiled down at her daughter. “You remember the story.”

“Mmhmm. I guess it makes sense. I just hope it isn’t  _ too _ lonely.” 

“Kyurem is very tough and very patient. So don’t worry, Nemy.” Touko stood up with a short  _ hup _ , stretching her arms. “On that note, I think it’s okay for you to ride around on the dragons again, but don’t go near Giant Chasm until Dad and I have the chance to go talk to Kyurem.” 

\---

Nemises was feeling restless. It’d been almost 2 weeks since that rather disastrous morning ride, and she could not for the life of her get her mind off Kyurem and the Giant Chasm itself. She tried her best to not worry about it, chalking it up to being unnerved from nearly being frozen solid. Yet it stubbornly stayed in the back of her head, buzzing and gnawing its way to the forefront. It needled insistently at her and she could almost find herself becoming annoyed. Her parents had made it abundantly clear they didn’t want her going near the Chasm, and she wasn’t about to go behind their backs on this. Their reasons for it were completely logical and frankly, Nemises agreed with them. She was just a 12-year-old kid who wasn't even a Trainer yet, and Mari was nowhere near powerful enough to face a legendary if things went south. 

But even that rationality did nothing to soothe the agitation fidgeting around in her brain, so she did the one thing she always did when her mind was troubled; she slid on her sneakers and strolled into the vast forest that stretched around her home. She knew these woods like the back of her hand, as well as all the Pokemon that inhabited it. She watched as Mari rose up above her and drifted off into the shadows, eager to say hi to her family that still lived here. 

That just left Nemises with her thoughts, which were currently wandering. The weather was nice, not too hot as spring began to grow into summer. Though it wouldn’t heat up for at least another month, the pockets of sunlight that broke through the forest canopy warmed her shoulders as she ambled along. 

“Hello,” she waved to a familiar wisping ball of purple gas- one of the Gastly that lived nearby. It drifted down to her, manifesting just enough to bump against her cheek in a friendly greeting. “Oh, I’m just taking a walk, but I’ll spend time with you all later, okay?”

With a small wave, she continued on her way. Why was it so quiet? Usually she’d have Pokemon flocking to her, but it seemed like this time, she was alone. The silence was disconcerting and the air felt strangely heavy, it was just like that morning over the Chasm. All the Pokemon had been gone, and then…

She felt the ghost of a chill pass down her body, bundling itself in her shoulder where the icicle had slammed into it. The bruise it had left behind was almost completely healed now, a myriad of fading sickly greens and yellows blossomed over her skin like splotches of paint. Well, at least it didn’t ache nearly as much as it did before.

Nemises was unsure of how long she’d walked when she came upon a towering oak tree, stretching far above all the others around it. It was clearly very old, its branches twisting up and into the sky, reaching to the clouds. It also had a number of low-hanging branches, offering some nice shade. Nemises wandered over the gnarled roots that spilled across the ground and found a cozy little nook in the trunk, perfect to lay down and relax in. A slight breeze rustled the leaves, creating an ambience that was very quickly soothing Nemises’ mind into a doze. 

A few minutes wouldn’t hurt. 

\--- 

\---

_ This air was so hard to breathe, so dry and frigid beyond words. She choked on it, inhaling only to cough it all out in the next moment. Her entire body was wracked with shivers as she trudged along, her legs growing heavy and stiff. Her vision tunneled and greyed at the edges. Her chest burned from this frozen air.  _

_ The wind and snow sliced at her face, whipping relentlessly against it until she couldn’t feel her cheeks anymore. _

_ And in front of her, the heart of this blizzard. It was a swirling vortex of ice and snow, yet beyond it, inside the eye of the storm, she could see...something. That shadow again. _

**_Ne…_ **

**_Mi… ...ses…_ **

_ She reached a hand into the vortex. It was freezing. _

_ She took a step. Her fingers were on fire.  _

_ Another step. Another breath.  _

_ She had made it through the wall. Before her stood a great dragon. _

_ The details were crystal clear, though she knew she had never seen it before. Its large, grey, bipedal body, its jaw welded shut by a crown of ice, its stunted frozen horn and wing on its right side, yellow eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. It let out a low hiss that sounded like the scraping of glaciers grinding against one another, yet Nemises did not feel afraid. She continued her trembling, haggard pace towards the dragon, with each step her shivering faded as she transcended beyond all feeling. A hand, turned as pale as Kyurem’s ice, found the dragon’s head and coasted across its brow. It bent its neck down as though to bow, and Nemises snaked her arms across, hugging it tightly like an old friend.  _

**_I have waited so long...when will you find me?_ **

_ Have I not found you now? _

**_Here...yes. But it is only a step. Towards truly finding. Each other._ **

_ She looked down. Her legs had begun to melt into a white, glowing liquid. She looked at Kyurem. It too was melting, its body beginning to dip and sag. _

**_Are you...afraid? Child?_ **

_ She hugged it tighter, clinging to it, her head resting against its own. She could feel herself sinking down, if she looked down she would have seen her body melted up to the waist. _

_ No. I’m not. If we’re together, I’m not. I feel like...this is what we are supposed to be. _

_ Dragon and human dissolved into a perfect circle of glowing white, swirling and mixing together with barely a ripple disturbing the surface. _

_ It was silent. It was serene. They were... _

**_We are everything, yet nothing. We are all that can be, and that cannot be. Truths...ideals...all melts within this boundary. In the farthest points of the universe, they are indistinguishable. It is within nothingness that there is the greatest potential. This limitless. Infinity._ **

_ She could not feel her body, her consciousness spiraled gently, yet she still felt so tranquil. Could she simply float like this forever? _

**_Something. Is coming._ **

She awoke with her head full of cotton and mud, sliding clumsily out of the dreaming world into the waking one. Her whole body felt like it was filled with sand, weighing down her limbs and threatening to drag her right back into sleep. Nemises looked down to her legs to make sure they were still solid. They looked the same as they always did.

So what was this nagging feeling in her stomach?

A singular thought cut through the fog.

_ Kyurem. _

Kyurem. Kyurem...she’d had this thought before, hadn’t she? She stood up, the Ghost Pokemon that had gathered around her dispersed softly, letting out little coos of protest as their pillow moved. The air was almost unbearably heavy now, and she couldn’t get her mind to focus on anything around her. She knew she was in the forest but she couldn’t...get her mind to register it.

A cold wind slithered through the trees, and through Nemises herself. She felt it deep within herself, almost like she was hollow.

Hollow… ...Hollow? She looked down.

There was a gaping hole in her chest that had not been there before.

The shock was swallowed up by an all-encompassing feeling of emptiness, and Nemises’ knees buckled. 

_ Do you understand, now? _

As the void pushed outward, her frame cracked. It was going to cave in on itself.

_ As I am now. I am just. A remnant. _

The feeling was unbearable. She needed it filled. Something,  _ anything, _ please.

Please fill this void.

_ Please. Help me. Help me become. Whole again. _

She tried to suck in breath, to fill her lungs against this crushing chasm, but nothing happened. She was suffocating. 

**_SOMETHING IS COMING._ **

Nemises jolted into wakefulness like she’d been doused in icy water. She was curled up under the bough of the oak, her heart pounding strangely hard and her head spinning in confusion. Urgh...she felt horrible, like all the energy had been sapped out of her. A dream within a dream…? She wasn’t sure she’d ever experienced anything quite like...that. And they’d only been getting more vivid with each passing day. Ever since she and Reshiram were attacked, they....

She stood up and started to make her way back home. She couldn’t take it anymore.

She needed to go back there.

\---

Both of her parents were inside on the living room couch when Nemises walked in through the front door. She hesitated, fiddling with the cuff of her jacket sleeve. How could she explain this to them without sounding nuts? Even she wasn’t sure what going back to the Giant Chasm would accomplish, it was just what her gut was telling her. They both looked up from their respective books as their daughter walked up to them.

“Hey kiddo,” N said. “How was your walk? Are the Pokemon doing alright?”

She nodded. “Um...Mom? Dad? Can I ask you something kinda...weird?”

“Of course, sweetie. I love weird questions!” her mother grinned.

“Can you...can you tell me again about when you first met Kyurem…?”

Touko and N exchanged a look. The former sat up more straight, her smile slipping slightly. 

“When we fought Ghetsis, you mean?” Touko asked.

Nemises nodded. N swallowed and shifted in his seat. 

“It was a long time ago,” he began. “At least nowadays it feels like it was. It was two years after our initial fight. Ghetsis had rebounded from his defeat against your mom and was hell bent on taking Unova for himself through any means necessary.”

“So he took control of Kyurem,” Nemises recalled. She suppressed a shiver. The poor thing…

N continued with a nod, “As we’ve described before, Mom and I are and always have been bound to our dragons through fate. Kyurem, on the other hand...well, it would seem that despite being a remnant of the original dragon, it has no such fated bond, at least, not as far as we or it knows. It’s never had a hero before. Well, not until…” he trailed off.

“Not until Ghetsis. If you could even  _ call _ that a bond,” Touko picked up where N left off. Her fist clenched on its resting place atop her thigh. “He found out how to control Kyurem and force his will upon it, taking on a faux sort of Ultimus Modus to fight Dad when he showed up to stop him. It wasn’t until I showed up and joined the fight that our combined fire and lightning was able to beat him and Kyurem back.”

“Auntie Rosa helped out too, right?” 

“Yeah. In hindsight, it was pretty scary just how strong Kyurem could be, needing two Heroes in fully powered Ultimus Modus forms and an incredibly skilled Trainer just to take it and its…  _ ‘hero’ _ ...down. 

“And once we did, and Kyurem snapped out of it, it…” N tried to join again, but trailed off just as quickly. He fiddled with the bracelet at his wrist, visibly trying to hide agitation. Touko held his hand and squeezed reassuringly.

Nemises remembered this part from the last few times her parents recounted this story. “It turned on Ghetsis and froze him solid.”

“That was the first, and last time we talked to Kyurem, actually. After the battle, we asked it what it wanted to do, it elected to stay in Giant Chasm until a human worthy enough of becoming its hero came along. And until now, it hasn’t caused any trouble. As far as we could tell it hadn’t even left its lair, until recently. When it attacked you and Reshiram.”

Nemises stared down at her hands. Why was this feeling in her gut growing stronger?

“Mom, Dad, do you think you could...um...take me to Giant Chasm…?”

Her parents balked. Before they could answer with what would have likely been a very resounding  _ no way _ , she quickly added, “Or maybe you two could go there to talk to it? Maybe ask it why it attacked us? I know it’s a weird request but...I have this feeling…”

It was so close she almost missed it; in their eyes, a flicker of...what was that? Recognition? Startlement? It was like they had both been surprised, but not shocked. Almost like they had expected her to say that.

“Well…” N said, slowly. “We  _ had _ been planning to go there to talk to Kyurem about its...outburst. But we aren’t sure how it’ll react to us being there. It could be very, very dangerous.”

“Why are you so concerned about this, Nemy? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

Nemises’ face went very pink. “Er...well...the truth is...a few days after the attack, I had this really weird dream. The details are fuzzy now, but I feel like I was...walking along the edge of this glacier, heading towards something. After I woke up, I started to get this feeling that I needed to go back to the Chasm. I thought I was just worried about Kyurem, so I ignored it...but…”

“The dreams continued,” N said quietly. Nemises looked up at him.

“Y...Yeah! And they kept getting weirder. It was always cold, and it was hard for me to see. The entire world looked like it was stuck in a blizzard. And every time I woke up, that pull just got stronger. Even now, I feel this...this weird urge to go there. I know it sounds strange, but I swear, something is telling me I have to go.”

Her parents were silent for a moment.

“...Okay, how about this?” Touko said. “Dad and I will go first, and talk to Kyurem, and once it’s all chill-” N snorted at the pun. “-we’ll come bring you to talk to it. How does that sound?”

“I’d really love that. Thank you Mom!” Nemises sighed in relief. Her parents didn’t think she was nuts.

“I’m glad you told us, honey. And you really shouldn’t worry about us thinking you’re nuts. We’d never think that,” Touko said, a little sharply, as if the mere insinuation was appalling. Nemises’ eyebrows hopped up. Why were all moms such mind-readers? 

“Nemy, this world is full of weird and wonderful things. People having strange dreams is more common than you’d think.”

“Well,” N said, standing up. “I don’t see a reason for us to not go today. We  _ had _ been meaning to, after all.”

“Wait, right now? Weren’t we going to eat lunch?” Nemises asked.

Touko stopped in her tracks from where she was heading to put her shoes on. “...We  _ were _ gonna do that first, weren’t we. We should probably do that first.”

\---

“Touko,” N called out as the two of them soared over the trees towards Giant Chasm, “You don’t suppose Nemy could be…?”

“Who knows? I mean, it certainly is a possibility, isn’t it? This is kinda uncharted territory. Maybe the reason Kyurem’s never had a hero is because the hero has to be like, a child of the Heroes of Truth and Ideals or something,” Touko replied simply. “If Nemy is a hero like us, it should be of her own merit. That’s part of why we were heroes!”

“Fair point. While it’s true we were both...predisposed to the position, it was ultimately our individual resolve that made Zekrom and Reshiram accept us.”

_ Indeed. _ Zekrom piped up.  _ It was merely a coincidence that the first two sets of heroes were directly related. The fact our original heroes had sons had nothing to do with why we chose their children later. _

_ During those two great wars, Kyurem did not play any major role. When we first split, it almost immediately hid itself away. These days, I cannot help but feel guilty for leaving it alone. After all, it was a part of us. _ Reshiram mused.

“We don’t understand a lot about Kyurem,” N said, stroking Reshiram’s neck. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. If Nemy is actually Kyurem’s hero, maybe it’s for that very reason.”

_ Well, _ Zekrom said.  _ No time like the present to find out. We’re here. _

The black and white dragons slowed in their descent, coming to a smooth stop on the frosty ground in front of the entrance to Kyurem’s lair. 

“Stay out here, but stick close by. If there’s trouble, we’ll call for you,” Touko said as she gave Zekrom a pat on the snout. 

N was already standing at the entrance, staring pensively into the gloom. His wife walked up beside him and slid her hand into his.

“You alright?” she asked.

N nodded. “I am with you here.” He received a playful shove in response.

“My gooooooooood,” Touko cooed as they walked in together. “How many years and you’re still as corny as ever!”

N’s laugh echoed off the cavern walls. 

It was hard to see the further they went in; N ignited a small flame in his hand to serve as a torch. The tension they both felt swallowed them, broken only by their footsteps. In here, it was very, very cold. The darkness fled from N’s flame, and they found themselves in the middle of the cave.

The two of them stared wide-eyed.

The cavern was silent. Kyurem was gone. 

“N, come look at this. Or- uh- maybe don’t?” Touko called to him.

“Why? What’s wrong?” 

He walked over to her, and very quickly saw the reason for her trepidation. The cluster of ice that had once held the frozen body of Ghetsis was empty. Shattered. Tiny frozen crystals were strewn around the ground, and there was no sign of the body. No blood, no body parts. N automatically took a step back, feeling his gut twist in nausea. 

“Oh...I had...hoped that…” he wasn’t sure what he had hoped. If he’d come here to talk to Kyurem with the man he once called father looming over him, looking like he’d burst free of his prison any second, that...definitely would’ve been unnerving. 

The mental image of Kyurem tearing into his body was equally horrifying. But there was more than that, he realized.

“...Oh god,” Touko gasped, sounding very much like the wind had been knocked out of her.

The back of the ice block was still intact. Like the body had broken out the front. 

N’s legs folded uselessly under him, a wave of cold that had nothing to do with the temperature washing over him, a tidal wave of dread. Touko remained standing, her fists clenching. She grabbed N’s hands and pulled him to his feet.

“We gotta go. Now.”

The two of them rushed back outside, where their dragons were waiting in obvious agitation.

“Reshiram, Zekrom, take us up above the Chasm!” Touko shouted. 

The two heroes slid onto their dragons with ease, and all four of them shot up above the mountain. 

“There. Look!” N pointed. 

Zekrom and Reshiram’s turbines roared to life and they took off with an incredible sound, following a trail of ice snaking like a scar over the land.

\---

Nemises was lollygagging about outside, her chores finished, patiently waiting for Mari to return from the forest. The Banette still liked to come and go as she pleased, though she did very much prefer spending time with Nemises and was oh-so-eager to join her on her Pokemon journey. 

“Hmm…” Nemises stretched her arms up with a small grunt, enjoying the sun on her face. “Maybe we can have a picnic outside for dinner…”

It was then she noticed how quiet it had gotten. The bird Pokemon chattering away in the trees had gone strangely silent. The Pokemon grazing in the field were all heading into the trees with a quickened pace. The only thing Nemises would hear was the wind rustling the grass, 

Her arms fell limply to her sides. “Where are they going…?”

The freezing wind hit her from behind like a truck. Cold shock made her muscles seize and her lungs pulled in air on their own volition, her chest burning. In an instant, clouds rushed in overhead and around her a towering wall of ice sprung up out of nowhere, surrounding her. 

Horror shot through her limbs like electricity as the world turned on its head in an instant. As snow began to kick up and swirl about, a low, crackling hiss made her turn around. 

There, looming before her, staring her down, was a great grey dragon. Its icy wings were spread wide and its yellows eyes pierced through the chilling mist that was spreading steadily through the air.

_ Kyurem. _

And it was not alone. 

Perched atop it like a parasite, clinging on with spindly tendrils of ice, was a man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When your unfinished business seeks you out instead to settle things once and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super excited to finally get this off the ground! I've been a huge fan of FerrisWheelShipping since BW came out and I made a fanchild for Touko and N back in the beginning of high school. It was around that time this idea starting forming in my head. I wanted to make it a comic, but that never panned out lol.  
> Now it's 6 years later and I am filled with determination! I hope you can enjoy this written tale about a girl and her destiny.


End file.
